Engaging with the ‘super-fan’: a growing

source of incremental revenue

Engaging with the ‘superfan’: the 15-second download

5 The explosion in digital/mobile communications and social media is
driving an upsurge in the number, influence and revenue potential of the
‘super-fans’ who are the most passionate consumers and advocates of
entertainment and media content and brands.

10
As a result, super-fans represent an increasingly valuable source of
incremental revenue. This can be tapped by offering them a premium or
so-called ‘inside-the-ropes’ experience, such as pre-release, exclusive or
live content, in return for a higher subscription, participation in product
development, and/or ongoing support and advocacy on social media.
15 To maximise the revenues and value from super-fans, brands should
identify and establish ownership of their ‘outer circle’ of committed
advocates via their marketing, programming and technology teams,
and then engage these people directly and individually through 15
digital channels.

Harnessing the most
passionate advocates …
When the US retailer Target was
launching its deluxe edition of Justin
Timberlake’s album The 20/20
Experience, it brought together 20
of Justin’s biggest fans to video
their own performance of Justin’s
new single. The shock and joy on
their faces when Justin walked in
and joined them on-set created a
YouTube sensation—one that has
garnered a third of a million views,
and counting.
This is just one example of the
rise—and rising importance—of
the super-fan. With the help of
digital technologies, super-fans are
adding value to brands across many
industries. From toys to consumer
electronics to cosmetics, people
with a deep, emotional attachment
to brands are going beyond
blogging and tweeting to become
actively involved in making their
favourite brands even better and
more valuable.
The same is happening in its super-fans should be one of its
entertainment and media. At a time top priorities.
when businesses in the industry
Super-fans are not new: fast-moving
are scrambling to find new sources
consumer goods companies have
of growth, developing a direct
been identifying and engaging
relationship with consumers is
with them for decades, including
increasingly vital for realising
creating personas for different
incremental revenue (see Fig. 1).
types. And these types vary widely,
And among any brand’s consumers,
Fig. 1: Most entertainment and media CEOs see the need to change the
consumer facing parts of their business
Percentage of entertainment and media CEOs making changes in the areas of
customer growth and retention strategies and channels to market
n Recognise need to change n Concrete plans to implement change programmes
n Developing strategy to change n Change programme underway or completed
n No need to change
Customer growth and retention strategies
13% 17% 28% 36% 6%
Channels to market
8% 22% 22% 25% 15%
Base: All entertainment and media respondents, 72
Source: PwC 17th Annual Global CEO Survey 2014
from ‘fanatical devotees’ who might
attend Comic-Con in character
costume, to ‘vocal advocates’ who
tweet continually about how great
a brand is, to ‘quiet advocates’
—or ‘super-subscribers’—who
may only follow their more vocal
counterparts, but are every bit
as loyal.
… to drive additional
revenues
Each persona of super-fan should
be treated differently to realise
different opportunities. And the
importance of getting this right is
growing, as the super-fans who love
entertainment and media content
are empowered and enabled by
the explosion in digital/mobile
communications and social media
—in turn driving an upsurge in
their numbers, influence and
revenue potential.
The key to tapping into this potential
lies in providing the passionate
super-fan or super-subscriber with
a premium offering—sometimes
termed an ‘inside-the-ropes’
experience—such as pre-release,
exclusive or live content. A ‘vocal
advocate’ who tweets positively to
100,000 followers and takes part in a
brand’s product or plot development
deserves—and increasingly expects
—this experience as payback for
their contribution to ‘earned’ media
and thereby wider revenues.
However, the less vocal but equally
committed quiet advocate also
wants to get closer to the brands
and celebrities they love. These
super-subscribers will be willing to
pay extra for ‘value-add’ premium
experiences or content—opening
up a direct and growing source of
incremental revenues.
By providing these more immersive
and intense experiences to their
super-fans—whether paid-for as a
premium service, or as a trade-off
for earned media and participation
in product development—
entertainment and media companies
will also deepen their super-fans’
commitment, and encourage them
to promote and support their brands
all the more actively.
Taking your fans on the
journey to digital
What’s key is that a premium
experience has to be special—even
unique—in the eyes of the fan. There
are many instances of companies
harnessing super-fans in this way
to drive extra revenues: witness the
‘V.I.P.’ button displayed discretely
on the People Magazine homepage,
offering subscribers the opportunity
to join the ‘A-List’, including access
to an exclusive premium section.
More generally, engaging with
super-fans might seem more relevant
to music, TV or movies: examples
include Regal Entertainment’s
offer of ‘SuperTickets’ for the latest
Hobbit series release, The Hobbit:
The Desolation of Smaug, including
a digital download of the movie
four days before the official digital
release. However, experience shows
that super-fans have particular
power in consumer magazines. With
print subscriptions and advertising
under pressure from the migration
to digital behaviours, special interest
magazines from cookery to golf to
yachting are moving to online video
content to engage their super-fans
—thus ensuring they take their most
committed advocates with them on
the digital journey.
Influencing the
influencers
As more entertainment and
media companies formulate
their strategies to respond to the
rise of the super-fan, its wider
implications are becoming clear.
One of the biggest impacts—given
the ability to engage these brand
advocates directly and individually
through digital channels—is that
it creates a need for ownership of
the most passionate consumers of
media brands, especially within
the marketing, programming and
technology teams. To establish
this ownership companies need to
focus on identifying and building
concentric ‘circles of influence’
around their content.
In this context, the ‘inner circle’
is the people within the business
working on developing and
delivering new content ideas and
experiences. Companies can now
look to supplement and reinforce
this internal talent pool with
an ‘outer circle’ of super-fans—
likely to include a blend of vocal
advocates boosting the brand on
social media, and quiet advocates
who might advise on activities such
as new content, plot formation
and characters, in return for a
personalised premium experience.
This outer circle does not need
to be huge: it’s more likely to
number 100 fans than 100,000.
But entertainment and media
companies that have not yet started
to identify and engage with their
outer circle should move now to
find out who their super-fans are by
genre, content strand and location,
and what they value. This insight
demands a mix of qualitative
research and data analytics,
providing the basis for engaging the
right fans in the right way with the
right rewards. These are areas where
people with a creative mindset have
traditionally struggled—but they’re
vital for winning the race to engage
the super-fan.
Inevitably, there are hurdles and
pitfalls along the way. Many content
companies are disintermediated
from their end-consumers by
wholesalers and distributors, making
it difficult to engage fans directly—
and raising the risk of losing them
to Internet-based competitors.
Strategic responses include direct to
consumer engagement, potentially
including collaboration between
content and distribution to offer
cut-down bundled packages for a
competitive price.
Also, entertainment and media
companies that use their super-fans
as a source of free product or service
insight, but then fail to reward
them adequately for their time and
commitment, may find they end
up undermining the relationship.
So, adding real value through
personalised, premium experiences
is crucial. Remember, all human
relationships are two–way: the
super-fan’s commitment to your
brand is emotional—so you need to
show the same emotion in return.
Outlook insights: an analysis of the Global entertainment and media outlook 2014–2018
www.pwc.com/outlook
© 2014 PwC. All rights reserved. PwC refers to the PwC network and/or one or more of its member firms, each of which is also a separate legal entity. Please see www.
pwc.com/structure for further details. AT-14-0142
Ten questions to ask:
1. Does your brand lend itself to
super-fans of different types? How
do your super-fans segment out?
2. What do they value about
your brand?
3. How can you use data (big and
small) to better understand your
customers and identify your
super-fans?
4. Do you already communicate with
them overtly and even provide a
platform for them to speak?
5. How can you engage with them to
the greatest mutual benefit?
6. What ‘inside the ropes’ experiences
would they value most?
7. Are you converting select segments
of super-fans into incremental
revenues through premium offers?
If not, why not?
8. How will you sustain those
revenues? And how will you refresh
your super-fan relationships
over time?
9. What part(s) of the business will
you use to do this?
10. What metric best describes the
desired outcomes of a super-fan’s
actions—such as ‘shares’, ‘likes’,
‘endorses’, etc?